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Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

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Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#201

Post by dionidium »

homulilly wrote: post #182
imgabe wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was replying to your comment specifically about tipping customs in the US. If you grow up in the US and go to restaurants it's not unreasonable to absorb tipping etiquette along the way. You still save money with a coupon, you're not paying full price for the meal. That's no reason to screw over the server who depends on tips for a living. If someone is seriously strapped for cash and needs to save money, they shou…

I've grown up in america and is the first time I've ever heard this and I imagine I'm not alone. It's also kind of difficult since people factor the tip at the end of the meal when they get the receipt, not when they have a menu in front of them.

I hope you're an exception. Tipping on the full amount should be a fairly well-known practice. Also, your receipt will probably show the original price and the final, discounted price. You shouldn't need to remember the menu.

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#202

Post by newobj »

Plough_Jogger wrote: post #116
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that before even trying Groupon. I can't imagine how coming in as a 2nd-class customer will improve my experience. Rather pay well, tip big and enjoy the best service they have to offer. Also, as an Engineer with a 1st-world salary, its socially responsible for me to spread it around.

"Also, as an Engineer with a 1st-world salary, its socially responsible for me to spread it around." ...

""Also, as an Engineer with a 1st-world salary, its socially responsible for me to spread it around."

..."

...

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#203

Post by dionidium »

imgabe wrote: post #167
RyanZAG wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that most of the world's population doesn't tip at all? Given that, it seems kind of strange to assume everyone just knows the appropriate tipping etiquette without being told when getting the coupon or sitting down. Plus the most active users of groupon are probably doing it to save as much money as possible with coupons. They're unlikely to willingly throw away those savings on massive tips... and from wha…

I was replying to your comment specifically about tipping customs in the US. If you grow up in the US and go to restaurants it's not unreasonable to absorb tipping etiquette along the way. You still save money with a coupon, you're not paying full price for the meal. That's no reason to screw over the server who depends on tips for a living. If someone is seriously strapped for cash and needs to save money, they shou…

Don't get me wrong, I'd happily do away with the whole tipping culture and just have the entire price printed on the menu. But, as long as we have tips, take the time to learn how to do it right.

This is really the main point. Similarly, you're free to decide that it's gross to shake hands with the people you meet, but you should be aware that you're acting outside of cultural norms.

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#204

Post by dasboth »

tedunangst wrote: post #101
dasboth wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my experience too. We had a 7-course taster meal in a restaurant in Shoreditch and the waitress turned from delightful to rude in an instant after hearing the word "Groupon"...

Based on her likely experience with the previous ten groupon customers, you basically announced "I intend to tip you 25% of what you were expecting."

I guess it's true that, had I tipped at all in that instance, I would have tipped based on what I paid on the night. Bearing in mind the Groupon was already paid for, that wouldn't have been a lot.

Having said that, I also went for a great Groupon meal somewhere else, which included a cocktail that was so good I had another 2, bought more food on top and ended up paying as much as a 'regular' meal would have been elsewhere (and tipped accordingly for the good service). That was the exception to the rule, though, even based on a very small sample size.

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#205

Post by dasboth »

tedunangst wrote: post #119
Symbiote wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on it being Shoreditch, which is in London, the tip should have been 10%. Do many people leave 2½% (essentially no) tip in London?

Nearly everyone tips based on the coupon value, not the market value. So that's maybe 50% less. They're also more "value minded" customers, who are likely to tip at the low end. Regular customers sometimes get the expensive bottle of wine; groupon users only ever get the cheapest bottle, if any. And then you get a subset of people who bring a $20 groupon and exactly $20 to the restaurant. It doesn't mean everyone usi…

I naively thought that it's fair game that because I'm buying a £20 Groupon I might pay exactly £20. I never did, but I felt that it should be implied that that's acceptable. I certainly wouldn't have expected to be treated worse for it.

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#206

Post by zippergz »

whisps wrote: post #162
hnal943 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped using groupon because of the near-universal resentment I felt from the employees of the stores selling the groupons. Clearly, these businesses weren't getting the value they thought they would get, but I wonder how much of that was the way they treated the new customers that the groupon generated.

Not to defend the attitude/behavior of the employees, but I can share my perspective as someone who has managed a small food business that repeatedly used Groupons (because they worked for us, despite what I'm about to describe). There was always a large minority of Groupon users trying to get the rules bent/broken in their favor--so for example, the Groupon they purchased might say "Only useable Monday-Thursday, doe…

I've also noticed a pattern in which a large proportion of the negative reviews for some restaurants (which I know to be good from my own direct experience) mention groupon, and others don't mention groupon but have very similar complaints. I wish Yelp would let you just exclude reviews from people who used groupons because their experiences and/or expectations seem to have nothing in common with mine...

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#207

Post by bduerst »

astrodust wrote: post #79
fredkbloggs wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their biggest problem is the inability to achieve profitability on $3 billion in sales after so many years in business. They still have $1.1 billion in cash however Doesn't this just mean the investors would be better off winding it down and investing the $1.1b in something that is profitable, or at the very least has a higher ceiling? It doesn't seem all that likely that the latest round of cutbacks is going to tu…

Sadly, a lot of tech companies would perform better if they threw their cash into index-driven mutual funds.

And they would risk losing investors.

Why would someone put money into a company that invests in index-funds, when you can just invest in index-funds?

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#208

Post by loco5niner »

paulcole wrote: post #88
loco5niner wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a groupon(or similar) for a straight-blade shave. The guy was using replaceable blades, was obviously using and old blade, and absolutely tore my face up. Nicks and blood everywhere. When I didn't give him a tip, I could tell he was upset.

I believe the vast majority of barbers use a replaceable blade shaver. It's called a shavette and just makes more sense for professional use. If you're not familiar with that, not sure how you could know the blade was old. How often and by what method do you shave/get a straight razor shave? Both of those could affect the quality of the shave more than the age of the blade. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/shave…

You're right, it was a shavette. This was the one and only time I've gotten a straight blade shave, but at the time, I was often shaving with a double edge razor at home. The blade in the shavette appeared very similar, and I can definitely tell the difference between new blade and old. To me it was a clear case of "penny wise, pound foolish". *I just noticed from your link that the type of blade used was the DE blade, about which the author says "I cannot, in good conscience, recommend any shavette style razor that uses DE blades."

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#209

Post by edgyswingset »

rev_bird wrote: post #199
geyang wrote: post #141

It is just a badly ran business. The Chinese version of Groupon is ran by the very competent Xing WANG, who was a physics graduate student. And last time I looked at it Meituan was worth $15B.

Not really sure why "was a physics graduate student" means anything about his business acumen here. Eric Lefkofsky has a law degree, Brad Keywell has a JD and an MBA, we could do this all day. Having a graduate degree in a hard science could certainly suggest a person has a different way of approaching business, but Wang dropped out so he could unapologetically clone other people's ideas.

I think the OP is stating the opposite, that being a physics grad student would imply he probably couldn't run the business as well as the Groupon founders.

Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries

#210

Post by Marazan »

Laaw wrote: post #87

I've never heard of this negative reaction to Groupon like you folks are describing. What was the negative side? Was it not a good advertising investment for companies? Were expectations not being set correctly by Groupon? Do they take too much of a cut? Are they just jerks to the companies? Is there room in this space to not be a shitty actor?

Groupon sell a different (incompatible) vision to the businesses and the customers.

To the business they sell the notional idea of gaining repeat customers.

to the customer they sell the (very real) idea of a new massively discounted place to visit each and every day.

Basically why would customers return to a place at full price given that they've got 17 new places to try at 80% off.

then you add on to that the reams of negative stories about the high pressure sales tactics they use and the negative reaction builds up.

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